“Social media expert:” Women need not apply?

A few months ago, one of my Twitter followers sent me a link to a blog post by Alexa Clark claiming there is a bias against women on the social media speaking circuit. My friend was outraged that most panels were made up of men and she further hinted that I was part of the white male problem.

I resisted this notion violently and responded impolitely. I abhor bigotry in any form. But since this shot across my bow, I’ve paid attention to the notices and invitations I receive for social media events and discovered something astounding. She’s right. Guest speakers and panelists on the social media circuit are 90% white males between the ages of 35-45.

This is not statistically-scientific proof, but represents a tally of the same invitations you probably receive, too. As I dug a little deeper, I’ve since discovered that this phenomenon has also been noted by Fast Company magazine, and other publications/blog posts.

The problem becomes even more mystifying by looking at the line-up for Blog World, which takes place this week in Las Vegas. The representative guest speakers from the entire blogosphere are wonderfully balanced and diverse at this event. So it’s not a problem with women being inactive. By comparison, there were just three women out of the 30 keynote speakers at the last social media-focused SXSW Interactive Conferences.

In my previous article on social media success factors, I hinted that there might be another predictor of social media success other than personality, writing ability, confidence, and hard work. There is. Gender.

And now that we’ve opened this topic, let’s push it a step further. Where are the minorities?

I want to be extremely careful here so don’t skip over this sentence when you’re composing your nasty-gram to me: I am not claiming that anybody is overtly, consciously, systematically biased. In fact, my bias is that people in general are NOT biased. I’m also not suggesting that the very talented men who lead these conferences don’t deserve to be there.

But what conclusion SHOULD we draw? Conference organizers want to attract the best talent they can find regardless of gender or race. If they do, they will be economically-rewarded with high attendance. So either I’m wrong — and there IS bias regardless of the economic consequences — or 90 percent of the most talented and available social media speakers are men. Right?

Neither seems to be a reasonable conclusion.

So what IS going on here? Why don’t social media “expert” panels reflect the demographics of the general population?

Illustration: This photo appeared last week in Valeria Maltoni’s excellent blog “Conversation Agent.” She was also a presenter at this Inbound Marketing conference.

Related Posts

There are no easy answers, especially ones short enough to make up a comment on a blog. 🙂

It takes regular conscious effort on the part of a lot of different people to make sure women are being included in the opportunities that eventually move them from the “nice to have” to the “must have” list of speakers. There are definitely event content planners who make that effort, but there are also plenty of others who just don’t consider diversity when planning their conferences — not out of conscious bias, I should add.

Many of those people probably think of themselves as “good guys” who are respectful and supportive of women. It simply doesn’t occur to them that they personally need to do anything to help women along. Most of the women in their middle to upper-middle-class lives are probably doing OK. Some are happily staying home with their kids, others are juggling careers and motherhood, a few pursue careers without kids. Some have gripes no doubt, but few are suffering from overt discrimination. So from their point of view, what’s the problem? And even if they recognize that there’s a problem, they generally say that they’d invite more women if only more women submitted topics.

I’m guilty of that myself — I have yet to put in a submission for any conference’s call for speakers. I’ll take this as a challenge to find at least one conference I’m a fit for and send in a proposal.

In short, the situation isn’t great, but it’s not an insolvable problem, either. It’s just one that’s going to take a whole lot of work to fix.

Is it possible that men do a better job at promoting themselves. I know several blogs which are named after their male fouders. SethGodin.com, JohnChow.com, DavidRisley.com etc. Off the top of my head, I can’t recall of any blogs, except for PenelpeTrunk.com that a names after females. I look at my RSS feeder and that most blogs I follow are written by males with several names after the blogger.

Great question you’ve posed Mark, and Rachel, that was such a thoughtful response. Does this remind anyone else of the state of affairs in medicine years ago? Middle aged white males made up most of the practices and almost all of the conferences. It took a long time, and a lot of hard work, but women finally cracked that one wide open.

And, since country clubs have been used on this blog before, what about them? It’s 2009 and Condy Rice just cracked the Shoal Creek code. I spent most of my early work years around country clubs and the like, and they too were dominated by middle aged males. Many still are.

I think, as Rachel suggested, it’s not an unsurmountable challenge. It’s just one we need to start paying attention to and shining a big light on.

Mark

@Rachel Why do the “good guys” need to help women along? You’re implying women need to be helped.

Mark

@Gordie In my blog I referenced the article on this topic that was brought to my attention. Some of the comments suggested that men do a better job of promoting and networking compared to men. I don;t know why this would be inherently so, but it is an observation shared by others.

@Gregg There have been many examples where women and minorities have had to struggle to break open historically white male “clubs.”

But let’s get real here a minute. Social media has only picked up steam in the last 24 months really. There is no men’s club, or at least there shouldn’t be. And I pointed out that other blog events are balanced and diverse.

In the traditional careers feeding into the new social media channel — marketing and PR — there are probably more women than men. Historically, women have dominated the PR field. I don’t buy your argument.

Wow, this topic is great. It can be a challenge for women to speak out on new technology trends and innovative sectors. We tend to reflect on innovation before we join the discussion:-)

Carla Bobka

It could be the simple difference of thise who “do” and those who commit a portion of their time to “talking about the fact that they do.” men are (in my experience) better at giving themselves credit for efforts. Women frequently acheive just as much, and look, or expect that their efforts will be discovered. There is also the consideration that the recession hit male workers harder, and as the jobless male population trolled the Web in search of oppty’s, they discovered/obtained a prowess in the social sphere quicker than their female counterparts left within the Corp world.

I’ve been hearing this topic discussed for a while from a number of perspectives. This is one of the few times real issues have been addressed. It’s not about bias; it’s about attitude & fundamental styles. @Isabelle, I totally agree with you. @Gregg, over time, as Isabelle stated, women will (and always do) shine in their own way once they “reflect” and are ready to join. It just takes more time. Just like your medical example.

That being said, I get very frustrated with these kinds of discussions. People need to stop focusing on what the other “guy” is doing right and trying to emulate that success. They need to concentrate on their own skills and maximize the value of them. Ladies, do “your thing, your way” because historically that has proven successful. Just do it sooner.

The interesting thing is that social media is a natural vehicle for women to excel at because it’s all about relationships and that, they are the masters of. So, step up to the plate more often.

I am Jayme Soulati, mother to Yazmin; NOT “Yazmin’s mom.” Point being, the Mommy Track bumps directly into my Career Track. I am now, after this summer, a proclaimed Mom who hates summer b/c I, gasp, can’t work the hours I need to! Mark said “SM has only picked up steam in last 2 years.” EXACTLY. Who has more time nights/weekends to sit in front of screens and ply their trade, learn new ropes? What this boils exactly down to, IMHO, is TIME, people. I am a self- employed, self-teaching PR SM pro and still feel so new re learnings in this fast-paced channel/platform. Speaking engagements back burner due to travel and what leads to that departure.(Did that Olympic Committee executive mom really want to remain closer to home with young kids or was that an excuse over Chicago?) Full on relevant blogging a frightening necessity; when to research, write, drive analytics? (That’s why I love Mark ‘cuz I can opine here!) Not for lack of interest or yearning to be on the dais, Men, the limitation is strictly b/c women multi-task that work/life thing. Oh, and wasn’t there a recent post somewhere, Mark, about being an “expert?” Who decides you are enough to strut the stuff among a cadre of peers/critics?

It’s not just social media conferences that are affected, Mark. The Eloquent Woman blog actually addresses this very topic in “Organizers: Get Women on the Program.” http://bit.ly/fUT4Z Computer consultant Carla Kimball may have part of the answer here, when she talks about the reluctance of most women to pursue public speaking engagements. http://bit.ly/5WdsC Yes, public speaking is the number ONE fear in America, but it affects women disproportionately. Are things getting better? A little bit, according to this Fast Company article from April 2008 http://bit.ly/f01D1. The article says that designs on “leadership” are higher among Gen Y African American, Hispanic, and Asian American women than among the 36% of Caucasian Gen Y women who don’t want to become “leaders” because a) they don’t want to seem “bossy” or b) they’re afraid of public speaking. As this article points out, we can’t mitigate the effect of gender roles overnight, but we can work for change over time, while encouraging the women we admire to stand up and speak out. I agree with Steve Dodd to some extent that we shouldn’t expect everybody to be good at everything and .. yes, perhaps both men and women do have some natural strengths. On the other hand, many of the differences really are developed and engendered in the attitudes of society at large. I believe the same holds true for inequities in minority participation. Bottomline: Everybody needs to be aware all the time. While we can’t change society immediately, we can change our individual attitudes today.

I think Carla’s point earlier was key, ie that men are – as a rule – better at giving themselves credit for their efforts.

It is particularly poignant here because self-promotion is such a central part of social media. I don’t mean self-promotion as in bragging but as in simply raising your profile online. Social media doesn’t work unless you get out there and make yourself heard.

So if men are better at giving themselves credit, it arguably stands to reason that they are in fact better at social media. I don’t mean that they are cleverer, more insightful – just that they have proved that they are better at getting themselves seen as experts (as proved by Mark’s examples of expert panel compsition). Women, by extension, are more humble and modest and that is a very good thing. Unless you are want to be on an expert panel…

Mark

@Jayme — I think the “mommy thing” is definitely a factor. I know for example, Falls and Brogan have young kids but leave them behind on their extensive travels. The prime age for SM participation is smack in the middle of child-bearing years. Maybe other fields that seem to be more diverse also have more of an age spread? Something to think about.

Agree with Jayme and Carla. When it comes to social media, there is direct correlation between the amount of time you spend blogging, tweeting, commenting, responding, events you attend to how many people know you.

I do think mommies (esp working moms) have more commitments than working dads (and I am a working dad!) and that doesn’t allow them as much time to promote themselves.

Gordie and Carla share the same sentiment as I around this… Men are much better at promoting themselves than women are. Perhaps it’s down to genes, nature, how we’re built – it doesn’t matter why. At the end of the day, the end result is still the same… men create a presence for themselves that women (as a rule) don’t match.

It may be more accurate if we consider this as a more general observation as opposed to a social media industry assessment. I think we can see a (mild to somewhat extensive) male presence over women in quite a few areas.

Here’s where I open myself up to a bit of scrutiny… I do believe men and women are built differently. I do believe we bring different strengths to the table and I do believe that men are stronger than women in some areas and vice versa. While I do believe we are equal, what makes us equal is different. So – male dominance in Social? Yep. I would agree… is it a big problem? I am not convinced it is. I think if women wanted to be on those panels – they would be. The only ones holding the women back are the women themselves. I don’t for a second think that the Social Country Club or the high ratio of men in this space are plotting to keep us fabulous women at an arms reach. Us women have priorities and it appears, speaking isn’t at the top of our list… if it was… I think we’d all know that the social media industry would be a far prettier and better smelling place! HAH!

One more thought. PR spends life time behind the scenes and consistently putting male clients at forefront as spokespeople. The regard for thought leaders is one of scrutiny, a potential at-risk position women are less inclined to adopt.

Jim LeBlanc

Thanks for the insightful post and putting it out there.

I think all of the commenters (except Amanda) have valid points but none of them would explain why the imbalance is ONLY in social media. When I go to PRSA or AMA meetings, it’s almost ALL women.

These are good points but does it really explain why there are 9 X more men on panels???

Wow…really great dialogue here. This rubs me the wrong way and I’ll admit at first I missed Marks “?” and saw red. But the reality is as a whole men jump into technology, and innovations while women wade in. No knock on either gender this is just our make up. So naturally men will get noticed first, (first to market) and they have a competitive edge on the learning curve if any. Add to this social bias, and there we have it. There are some battles worth fighting I’d say men tweet/blog to your heart’s content, but White House? Here come the women! (wink)

as my gran always used to say, ‘the cock crows, but the hen lays the eggs’. same with social media, innovation, tech or any confs. the women are doing IT. the men go and talk about doing IT. just MHO. 😉 chris

@Jayme — Is social media based in IT? Hadn’t thought about it that way.

Mark

I think perhaps the one theme that seems to resonate is the idea about self-promotion. It could be one answer as to why other fields are more balanced and SM seems so lop-sided. At the heart of it, SM is all about self-promotion (there, I said it!) so the cocks who crow loudest get invited to conferences? I’m not sure that’s all of it. There is such a big gap …

Mark

Another interesting connection: While SM is not necessarily just about IT, a lot of the white male rockstars are IT geeks by training. Not sure what that means but I had not made that connection before.

Disclosure: I am neither an IT geek nor a rockstar. I just ask the questions around here.

Agreed Mark…SM is not about IT but the tools are. And tech savvy individuals, geeks, innovators are typically men.

And I don’t think it has anything to do with tooting horns…Women wield a mighty sword with speech/writing and can toot just as loud. I just think society is biased and if we were to be real we as women can be just as guilty for perpetuating the biases.

Rayna

Your posts always get me thinking. Simply put, men are more aggressive to promote themselves, network and put themselves in roles of speaker, blogger, consultant, authority. Not just limited to social media — you see the same thing in the agency world, corporate, politics. But that is not the whole story.

When it comes to who people are more likely to follow, it should be about smart ideas, innovation, presentation, personality, and camaraderie. There should be more social media leaders (and conference speakers) like Charlene Li, Valerie Maltoni, Beth Harte, BrainPicker, Laura Fitton – OneForty, Jacqueline Novogratz – Acumen fund. . and the list goes on. Perhaps as an industry we can start demanding our professional associations do a better job of sourcing out speakers — we would all benefit from greater diversity of ideas as well as demographic.

Pew Research Reported on men and women as leaders found both men and women will say women and men equally make strong leaders. The strange paradox at play: we admire women, their traits for leadership, but do not always admire women in top leadership roles and seeing them tougher, more authoritative even competitive. It’s contradictory but the same result keeps occurring.

Like to think the digital & social media space is a more ‘equal opportunity’ industry and more men and women are willing to follow the smart ideas –regardless of gender. Not always the case but hopeful there’s room for change.

Fascinating subject, Mark. The thing that I am stuck on is that women are represented at the blogging event but not SM event. All of the arguments I could conjure to explain this gender discrepancy in SM (e.g. women don’t have the freedom to travel b/c of other responsibilities), are, at least in part, blown out of the water by this observation you made.

This makes me wonder: what type of blogs do the women at the blogging event write? Are they business blogs that would have applications with SM and blogging, or are they Mommy blogs? If Mommy blogs, it could explain the high number of women at this event compared to the SM event. I’m not saying it’s right, but it could be one part of the explanation.

This has got me thinking . . . Thanks, as always, for starting a great conversation.

AWESOME article, Mark, just as promised! I have to agree with Natasha on her “here come the women!” comment. Being part of a younger generation, I have personally growing up with the hopeful, optimistic outlook that the future is what we make it to be. I would not in any way ever want to suggest that we forget the past – far from it. However, the past should be used as a platform for moving forward. Men have traditionally dominated in many professional fields in terms of numbers, and rather than ruminate about the unfairness of the past, I look forward to making up the future that will change the past. Thankfully, there is only one constant in life: Change. Here’s to the future. Thanks, Mark

Mark, I’m sorry to be so late to this party, because I think the topic and the questions you raise are excellent.

I noticed the gender imbalance in SM early on, but chalked it up to a continuation of the general business trend that favors men over women for leadership roles for all the reasons this community has cited.

I don’t think the SM arena is a special case, though I do find it a little bit odd, since – by the same stereotypes – women are assumed to be more social by nature. The skills required for SM success are typically considered “feminine” skills – tact, empathy, conversation & language, etc.

Still, the chatter here raises other questions for me. For instance, I wonder what the gender breakdown is for high-level SM positions with large brands. How many community managers, for instance, are women vs men? How many SM strategists? I’d also be curious to know how women and men are using SM in their own projects – whether business, personal, or non-profit.

I have a hypothesis that women may be more interested in finding ways to use SM, while men may be more interested in setting out the rules for use. I could be totally off base, but I wonder what the statistics are.

Lil’ miss, I am female, and telling it like it is. We are doing IT. I am not under a rock. The cocks crow but the hen lays the eggs. Has always been so, but times they are a changing and now women are getting an equal voice. why would you assume because I use mine I am male? The whole male/female thing gets blown up out of all proportion when you start making personal accusations/comments.

Don’t look for trouble where none exists. We ladies were superior before they made us equal. 😉 chris.

@Chris (cyberdoyle) I’ve written and deleted many responses to your initial post. Now I’ve had the opportunity to reflect on you comments (remember with social media, take a breath before you post LOL) I’d like refer back to my previous comment. Women tend to not focus on their strengths initially in emerging markets. The initial reaction is to compete on the same playing field. But, as soon as they do leverage their unique strengths, the rules change and their “public” contribution rises quickly. I think we are seeing this happen in SM now. There is a place for both genders in this (and other markets) and neither is better or worse than the other. They are just different and the combined perspective adds tremendous value to everyone.

Fascinating debate indeed. Approaching my half-century, the product of a school founded by suffragettes and the beneficiary of a reasonably successful career within the IT industry, I personally have never experienced disadvantage or exclusion by virtue of my gender. My feeling is, if you believe gender discrimination to be a factor for you, then it probably is. But I do not. The issue at the core of this debate is the willingness/desire to self-promote. I think men do tend to embrace assertive self-promotion, as a facet of their innate tendancy toward leadership. Men are – in the main – genetically predisposed towards leadership whereas women are – in the main – genetically predisposed towards supporting and nurturing… and even supporting and nurturing the self-promoting experts and leaders. Where a woman seeks to self-promote and find a role as an ‘expert’ I see no reason whatsoever (other than, perhaps, the ‘country club’ mentality, if it exists), which could hold her back – I just don’t believe that as many women seek those positions, as men. Women – in the main – gain their satisfaction, sense of achievement, empowerment etc etc, elsewhere. Are women being deliberately excluded in the field of SM? Would any reasonable, thinking, intelligent person, male or female, desiring to gain credibility by running an intellectually stimulating seminar/event *deliberately* exclude exceptional speakers on the basis of gender?? I don’t believe that for one minute.

Jordan

Thanks for this piece, Mark, it’s great to see so many thoughtful posts on the subject of gender. I see this issue as a little more complicated than if people are biased–you’re right that there is no conspiracy (but for those who are unwilling to see that there is a problem to be addressed, shame on you). We are, whether we want to be or not. We’re biased every which way–e.g., who here doesn’t have particular tastes in who they want to date? That’s a form of bias, and often not even one we can or even want to do anything about. The influence of the basic power of gender begins with “is it a boy or a girl?”, so often asked even before the health of the mother. It’s an onslaught from then on, from the media, from social and family values, etc. So there are forces at work that influence nearly every aspect of our lives, and gender is an extremely loaded one. Meaning nearly everything is gendered on the deepest level. This is difficult to take if you believe you’re in complete control of your life, but face it, our choices are rarely only our own. Point being: we have to actively work to change our perceptions of gender not just in noticing who gets asked/picked to speak at conferences, but, for example, which kids are encouraged to be outspoken and comfortable with their opinions. We need to address the issue very much on the level you’re talking about, and deeper as well. Who ends up on these self-selected lists is a result of lifelong social processes. The question of why the demographic doesn’t reflect the general population is the same question asked in so many other fields and issues. It’s just not at all surprising.

I’ve enjoyed sitting back and watch the discussion unfold. I’m so grateful for this community. What a great learning experience. A couple of comments …

@Jamie As usual, you stir our minds in new directions with your provocative questions. Wow.

@Julie Your self-sufficient determination is really inspiring. You are the kind of person I would love to have on my team!

@Jordan — Thanks for the reality check. Of course we do have biases. This has been one of my blog themes I think throughout the past few weeks — social media is NOT the equalizer we pretend it is. Not everybody can stand out because there is a bias toward those willing or capable to self-promote, write a lot and put themselves out there.

In other words, the shy need not apply.

This is a reflection of the larger Western society in many ways. I remember both participating in and leading corporate leadership training and when it comes to the subject of diversity, everybody stands up for the “obvious” minorities but when I brought up the subject of “shy” I was met with blank stares. Truly, those pre-disposed toward being quiet are generally trampled in the corporate world and I think that shows up in this medium too.

I believe this is a bias not many people recognize or discuss. Being thoughtful and quiet is part of our human diversity too.

@Mark – Always a pleasure to be here. You have a gift for asking the right questions & creating loyal fans. Yours is the only blog I comment on consistently. My frequent return visits are inspired in equal part by your posts and the comments of your community. You’ve really got something special cooking here, keep up the great work!

I agree that men self-promo far more shamelessly. Also think that Sheldon’s point is pretty critical where SM is concerned, though clearly not for bloggers — where there are other dynamics in play. SM event organizers, particularly men, should take note.

For women, I think the key is to create your own space to succeed on your own terms, which is where I think bloggers are succeeding and perhaps making progress unimpeded.

Well said Lisa. The women really get IT. Always have. Social media was invented for women, perfect tool.

Lots of men are just and so getting the hang of it now…

Susan Collins

Great conversation and always a topic that remains inconclusive. My own opinion lies with several others who believe women wade in later, after more consideration. But once in, our contribution is significant and diverse. Should men “help us?” Yes, of course but I believe we should help each other. I wonder how different the social network experience really is between men and women. I find the face-to-face to be the most important aspect of relationship building and I try to get there asap. That means that total submersion in the cyber world becomes less of a priority.

When I was doing research for this article, I noticed there were many female-oriented SM organizations like “Blog-her.”

1) What is lacking in current social media organizations that would necessitate the creation of a female-specific group?

2) Other than the possibility of a bias expressed in conference representation, what other unique social pressures could there be on female bloggers? I mean there’s no glass ceiling, right? There IS no ceiling. Everybody does whatever they want in SM. Sign up on Blogger and go.

What is behind the need for so many gender-specific social media clubs?

To your point, Mark, social media is “social” and needs community (whether via links, followers, RTs, referrals, etc.) to create the kind of viral benefits that it potentially offers. It’s pretty hard to be effective — let alone reach leadership status — w/o the support of the SM influencers in some form (again, via links, followers, RTs, referrals, etc.).

Brings back Sheldon’s point about M following M, but not following W, whereas W follow both M and W. Thankfully, there are M that are exceptions to this norm. Not a ceiling per se, but an obstacle of a different sort in a medium driven by “social” currency.

everyman

Mark, to answer your question directly: YES OF COURSE there is bias. Not that it’s necessarily malicious but it works like this: you (as a white male) put on a conference. Who are likely to be your buddies helping you? People most like yourself: gender and race are two obvious points of similarity. And who is in your extended network that you turn to? Still more white males. Obviously that is only part of the picture and once again, “systematic bias” in this case does not necessarily equate with harmful intent, racism, sexism, etc. Just that it is so obvious (to me as a minority) this is partly what is happening.

And yeah, we men seem to have a bigger tendency to want to get up on the stage and blow our own hot air whereas women “get it” and are already communicating. We men have “male pattern lecturing” built into our dna apparently… Ugh!! I’ve heard enough “social media experts” pontificating now to last through web 10.0.

Attending social media events (real-life meet ups) is a great way to learn a lot. When you meet experts directly you will get to know them better and you will gain more exposure. Note down all the important things that you come across. You can take photographs during the event and publish them in your social media profile – it gives a good feeling. Regularly check your local area listings for events related to social media.

Subscribe to { grow }

Get my best marketing advice delivered to your inbox.

Enter your email

Search this site

Search this site:

Welcome to {grow}

You’re in marketing for one reason: Grow. Grow your company, reputation, customers, impact, profits. Grow yourself. This is a community that will help. It will stretch your mind, connect you to fascinating people, and provide some fun along the way. I am so glad you’re here. -Mark Schaefer